The 41-year-old is set to leave Camp Nou after a successful four-year stint in charge of the Blaugrana to take a sabbatical from football.

With 14 titles under his belt since taking over the reins in 2008, Guardiola is the most successful coach in Barca's history and has earned widespread praise for his work with the Catalans.

But Messi believes that Tito Vilanova will be able to steer the club to success and stressed that he did not consider the possibility of following Guardiola out of Camp Nou.

"I am more than happy at Barcelona and I never thought about switching clubs," he told Expansion. "I am not leaving.

"We will overcome Guardiola's exit and we hope that everything will continue to be the same with Tito, who has the same philosophy and mentality.

"Guardiola and Tito did everything together during these years and I do not think that our everyday work will change much.

"Tito's personality is obviously different, but we will adapt to it and we hope that the results will be similar."

The three-time Ballon d'Or winner then shared his emotions when he learned about Guardiola's departure shortly after watching the club bow out in the Champions League and lose the league title to arch-rivals Real Madrid.

"Yes, it was a very hard week: losing La Liga, the Champions League and Guardiola in the same week was a heavy blow," Messi explained.

"Guardiola's exit is a blow because we were lucky enough to win everything under him and to teach the world how to play a different game.

"But we have to accept his decision because this is what he wanted."

Guardiola's tenure ended with a Copa del Rey triumph in late May following a 3-0 win over Athletic Bilbao in the final.